Michiru Fukase doesn't talk a great deal about her homelife, and misses Saturday classes at Yasoinaba High School almost predictably. Despite this and 'bad girl' fashion affectations, she has become a minor pillar of the community, assisting at the old folks home instead of her former passion of the ikebana club, which has been nearly abandoned. While often sharp and somewhat contrarian, she does seem to authentically care for others, as well as having shown a notable increase in studiousness and good behavior. She also cooks Korean food.

Skills

Equipment

Weapon: Heirloom Kiseru - A smoking accessory inherited from Michiru's grandmother. Suitable for light striking. Does not actually make her look cool.

Michiru Fukase is not a terribly intimidating combatant, although she is probably slightly above average for a schoolgirl. What is more remarkable is the power of Xipe Totec, a Persona with vast powers over disease, darkness, and the earth itself. Her combat style tends to operate at significant ranges and she has been practicing precision maneuvers with earth manipulation.

Special: Secret Wire Trick - Michiru tugs a loop of wire with a 500g weight on it from her garter and whips it around like Gogo Yubari. Did we mention it's piano wire? This generally leads to savage, skin-abrading entanglement.

Persona and Resonance

Michiru's Persona is Xipe Totec, an Aztec god of life and death. To quote the august compendum of knowledge that is Wikipedia:

"Xipe Totec ("our lord the flayed one") was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons. Xipe Totec was also known by the alternative names Tlatlauhca, Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca ("Red Smoking Mirror") and Youalahuan ("the Night Drinker"). The Tlaxcaltecs and the Huexotzincas worshipped a version of the deity under the name of Camaxtli, and the god has been identified with Yopi, a Zapotec god represented on Classic Period urns.[4] The female equivalent of Xipe Totec was the goddess Xilonen-Chicomecoatl.

Xipe Totec flayed himself to give food to humanity, symbolic of the way maize seeds lose their outer layer before germination and of snakes shedding their skin. Without his skin, he was depicted as a golden god. Xipe Totec was believed by the Aztecs to be the god that invented war. He had a temple called Yopico within the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.

This deity is of uncertain origin."

Those in the know may recognize a connection to the well-established origins of the vampire race and the legendary "Pillar Men," however such connections thus far have proven only to be speculation.

Xipe Totec's resonance tends to be stimulating, with impressions of humidity and fragrant life. It is reminiscent of a jungle in all of the pleasant ways, although there is also a faint whiff as if from freshly overturned earth that may be slightly sour. The entity itself manifests as a stylized golden statue of an idealized Olmec man, wearing a freshly-cut cape of... let us say thin leather.

Michiru herself has not developed much skill with resonance, whether due to an inward-looking personality or simply being dumb. She has practiced some tricks with Xipe Totec directly, largely focused on attempting to use the Persona's earth-affecting power on longer time frames and simply to practice manifesting the entity. Possibly overinfluenced by that sexy muscleman comic, Michiru believes that any similar abilities shown by the Kyrie entity that seems to be connected to Inaba's uncanny occurrences are the result of superior training and practice on the part of its enigmatic "wielder."